Ghosts of the Past
by Da Squeakz
Summary: Sasuke has left for Orochimaru's place, and the rescue team went to get him. Four years later they still haven't returned. The chuunin exams are going to be held in Konoha and two new villages are now participating.
1. Chapter 1

Okay. This is a reposting of chapter one with some slight (well, only slight in some places) changes from the original. Plus I hate my beta. Well, the one for this fic. Not the other one I talk about whom I love. This redone version might actually describe the characters (as requested by one reviewer) and will have Kiba mentioned. Yay. Also, some stuff that makes this fic Auish. Yes, Sakura did become Tsunade's apprentice, but she finished that and is now a jounin with her own team. Also, Shizune left with Lee to make sure he didn't overexert himself by using yet another lotus and prolly dying. And yes, there will be OCs.

* * *

_"Don't worry, we'll bring him back. He might be a little worse for the wear, but he'll still be Sasuke."_

That's what Naruto had said four years ago. And they still weren't back. ANBU teams had been sent out to search for them since then, but they came back empty-handed. The retrieval team had been announced dead, and Sasuke still a missing-nin. There had been a funeral in Konoha towards the brave warriors that had attempted to bring back the last remaining Uchiha in the village. The pictures of the fallen warriors held mementoes that their friends had placed in front of them. Although the feeling of sadness and depression hung about most, there were those that were happy to be rid of Naruto. But we don't like those people.

"Sakura-sensei, are you just going to stand there all day? When do we start training?"

Sakura broke out of her trance and looked at her team. Masaki Antonio, Hyuuga Hanabi, and Knight Akira. As a jounin, she was required to take on a team of rookie gennins and show them how ninjas operated. She had had this team for the past year, and they seemed to get together pretty well; or, at least as well as a group of kids could get along when they were given missions involving baby-sitting.

Antonio had brown hair, brown eyes, was the tallest one in the group, and had a knack for picking fights that he usually ended up losing. His specialty was genjutsu, although he was also good at taijutsu and ninjutsu. His clothing style consisted of a pair of baggy jeans and a loose camo shirt. He had a personality that never seemed to get put down.

Hanabi had grown some since we last saw her in the chuunin exams. She still had the dark hair and white eyes, but while Hinata was quiet and reserved, she enjoyed talking. It made Sakura glad to be able to use healing jutsus whenever her head hurt. She always wore her hair down, and it seemed to never end. She wore long shorts (now that's an oxymoron. What's next, dark lights?) and a light colored shirt, usually a sky blue, like the color she wanted her eyes to be. She fought using the Gentle Fist taijutsu style.

Akira was usually whom Antonio tried to fight. He was also very gifted at taijutsu, decent at ninjutsu, and utterly failed at genjutsu. Which is probably why Antonio always tried to fight him. He stood slightly shorter than Antonio did. While Hanabi talked a lot and Antonio tried to get attention, Akira kept to himself and acted quite humbly. Whenever he was complimented, he would usually act as if it was something anybody could do. For clothing he would wear a green windbreaker and a pair of cargo shorts.

Sakura sighed. "Ok team, let's get started."

-

At the Hokage's office, Kakashi and Tsunade were talking about upcoming events.

"Well, it's about that time again," Tsunade said.

"So it is," Kakashi replied.

"How many Chuunins do you think we'll have this time?"

"Well, from Konoha, maybe one if we're lucky. Sakura's team is the only one that has some potential, considering how we're changing a few things this year. Hidden Sand has 3 teams, Hidden Mist is sending in 3 teams as well, Hidden Sound has one team, and then there's these new villages, Hidden Spectre and Hidden Demon. They're sending in one team each. I wonder if they'll be any good," Kakashi said.

"21 gennins from villages we know of. So it's going to be relatively small this year. What has ANBU found out about the other two villages, anything?" Tsunade asked.

"No. All we know is they're also in Fire country."

"So will their Hokages be showing up as well, or will it just be the jounins in charge of the teams?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think they'll be on time?" Tsunade asked, this question directed more at Kakashi than the other villages.

"If they're anything like me, probably not," Kakashi said, smiling under his mask, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment to keep."

"And by keep, you mean it started two hours ago, correct?"

"No, this one I'll be on time to."

Tsunade just stared. 'He's going to be on time for something?' she wondered to herself.

And so everybody's favorite copy nin left the Hokage's office. Twenty minutes later, he arrived at the monument for the leaf nin who had died on their missions. He sighed as he ran a finger across the etchings of Lee, Chouji, Neji, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Naruto.

"I see my arch rival is up here," Gai said, flashing a shiny-toothed smile.

"I am."

(a/n: this next conversation comes from the idea that Gai and Kakashi can have a serious conversation. For once.) Gai walked over next to Kakashi. "We each lost two of our best. I lost Neji and Lee, you lost Sauce and Naruto, Asume lost Chouji and Shikamaru, and Kurenai lost Kiba. But knowing those six, they put up one hell of a fight before they died."

"Yes, I bet they did. It would appear that Naruto never accomplished his dream. And Sasuke, well, I do believe Itachi is still around, so he hasn't accomplished his yet. What about Lee and the others?"

"Well, Lee definitely proved that he could be an excellent ninja without genjutsu or ninjutsu, and Neji, well, I guess he was happy to have decided his own fate. I heard him talking to Hinata before they all left."

"Oh really? Did you hear what he said?"

"I heard something about asking her to change the way the clan worked when she became the head of it. Apparently he lost the idea of fate somewhere between the last chuunin exams and now."

"It would seem that way. How has Tenten been doing with her new team?"

Gai smiled. Not his "look-at-me-I'm-so-pretty-and-now-I'm-doing-the-good-guy-pose" smile, a real one. "She says they wear her out. Is Sakura the same?"

"She says that she now realizes why I was always late. And although she's not entirely right, she is kind of close," he was interrupted by a loud noise coming from the woods.

"SAKURA-SENSEI! THAT'S CHEATING!"

"She enjoys the bell drill. Speaking of which, that means that there's food up here. Shall we find it?" Kakashi suggested.

"Won't she be angry?"

"Probably, but how is she going to know it was us?"

Five minutes later, Sakura and her team walked up to the moment. Five minutes after that, Kakashi and Gai were tied to the posts much like Naruto had been so many years before.

"Well that could have been better," Gai muttered.

"Yes, but we got free food," Kakashi replied.

"Is it really worth what's coming?"

"Probably not," Kakashi said as he watched the three gennins grin at their new method of training. See who can hit the jounins the most.

Antonio, Hanabi, and Akira were walking through Konoha after their 'training exercise.' Gai ended up getting hurt because Kakashi used the Replacement Technique and just ran off, leaving him to his fate. Gai wasn't too happy about this, but he concluded that Kakashi ran because he wouldn't be able to deal with the blows that came, so he was the victor. Poor, poor Gai. He thinks everything's a competition.


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, 4 reviews for one chapter. That's my new record. Go me. Also, my beta has now read all of the manga, and I have seen all of the anime, so this might be a bit more, non-auish. I don't know. But continuing on, sorry for the long wait (to those of you who were waiting.) and I redid the first chapter and included some charcter descriptions of Antonio, Hanabi, and Akira. So you can go look at those if you want. Now it's time to write.

* * *

The five hooded figures looked at the three-man team in front of them. "Do you remember the plan?" 

The only female on the team looked back with silver eyes. "Of course we do. You will be able to make your move during the fights, just as you plan."

The man who spoke before smiled under his hood. "Excellent. Do not disappoint us."

"Hai, hai. We won't." Said a boy with brilliant yellow eyes.

"Alright guys. It's time to go. See you later, senseis." The final boy said, uneven bangs slightly above eye blue eyes.

The three walked away from their teachers, towards the quiet village of Konoha.

-

A dark-haired man was standing in front of a boy.

"Do not use that move until it's time. We don't need to announce my presence until then."

"Of course. And the other two? Are they just sacrifices for the ultimate goal?"

The question went unanswered as he replied, "You know your purpose, and they know theirs. You people can't die until you have served you purpose. After that, welcome death as you wish. That is all."

"Hai."

-

**Konoha  
****Two days later**

Since Sakura had let them out of training early, Antonio, Hanabi and Akira were walking the streets of Konoha towards the Hokage monument. Hanabi was talking to the other two about her "Leet ninja skills", Antonio was talking about some hot babe he had seen recently, and Akira was just walking with his hands in his pockets, lost in his head. As they passed the Ichiraku, Hanabi noticed three people she had never seen before. It was obvious from their forehead protectors they were foreign. Instead of the leaf sign, they had 2 interlocking diamonds. Being herself, she walked up to them and quite bluntly said "Who are you?"

The three looked at her, and then her forehead protector. The girl walked forward. She was as tall as Hanabi, with waist length blue hair and silver eyes, with bangs long enough that she had to part them to see. She had on a loose black tank top and some tight black pants on. Part of the scar running from her right shoulder to her middle back was visible. Her forehead protector was (surprisingly) on her forehead. "I was taught that it is customary to give one's own name before asking for another's."

"I'm Hyuuga Hanabi. These are Masaki Antonio and Knight Akira," she gestured to the two boys behind her. "There, now that I have introduced us-"

"I can kick your ass," said Antonio said abruptly.

"Antonio, that's not what I was-"

"Oh really?" the girl asked.

"No fighting yet, Rayna," said the boy next to her with blue eyes. He had brown hair that fell in uneven bangs across his forehead, a scar running across his left cheek. He had a loose white T-shirt and a pair of jeans with a rip in each knee to allow full flexibility of that joint. He had his forehead protector looped around his belt.

"But come on Ghost, he started it," she said.

"No," Ghost said.

"Yeah, he has point. I don't need to hurt someone as weak as you," Antonio said.

"Scratch that. Kick his ass Rayna," Ghost said as he sat down to watch.

"Okay."

Rayna began to walk towards Antonio as he made a few hand seals. "Kokuangyou no Jutsu (Bringer of Darkness)"

At once, the area around the two groups was cast into darkness. 'Genjutsu. Okay.' Rayna made a few hand seals and produced two clones. Once that was done, she crouched down and put her ear to the ground and smiled as she heard a ping as one of her clones was destroyed. As she heard another ping, she leapt off to her left and swung her foot in an arc. She felt it connect to something solid as the darkness disappeared. Antonio was on the ground a few feet away, a bruise forming on his right cheek. She ran at him and was about to hit him again when her legs stopped moving. She looked down at her feet and saw that they were encased in ice. A path of ice was tracing itself back to where Ghost was sitting on the ground.

"You didn't have to hit him that hard Rayna. He's still a gennin don't forget," he said.

"But still, he called me weak," she said.

"And you have now proved him wrong. Besides, I'm hungry and you have my money. Now let's get some food like we planned to."

"Oh fine, let me out."

Ghost dispelled the jutsu and stood up. He and the other boy walked over to where Rayna was standing as Antonio got up off the ground.

"I can keep fighting!" he yelled.

The boy who kept quiet during the whole looked at him with yellow eyes. He had straight golden hair that went down his back, tied at the end with a simple piece of black string. He wore a white T-shirt with dark mesh over it and had on a pair of gray shorts, with his forehead protector around his left arm. "Shut up. You try to be all cool and act tough in front of your little girlfriend over there, but in the end you get your ass kicked in one shot. I really hope this isn't the team from Konoha that's going to be in the Chuunin exams."

"Auzzie, you don't have to be so harsh on the kid," Rayna said.

"It's true. He just jumped into a fight without even taking the time to try to figure out your fighting style. It's not my fault he's an idiot."

"Auzzie. Quiet. If I remember correctly, I still kick the crap out of you, and you know almost all there is to know about me, although I doubt anybody knows me better than your sister, and in more ways than one" Ghost said sharply.

"And just what are you saying by that?" Auzzie asked. Turning to Rayna he said, "Care to explain?"

"Ghost, shut up!" Rayna said.

Ghost just chuckled to himself as he walked into Ichiraku. Rayna followed him, and Auzzie was about to walk in when he heard Antonio say something about the fact that he didn't go out with Hanabi. He paused and turned towards them. "So you two don't go out?"

"No. Why would I want to go out with a loudmouth like her?" Antonio said, earning him a look from Hanabi. A look of impending doom.

"Hyuuga Hanabi."

Hanabi looked at Auzzie. "What?"

"How is your sister doing?"

"How do you know my sister?"

"Most of Fire country knows of the famous Hyuugas and their Byakugan. So naturally, I know of you, your sister, and the rest of the family, branch and main. I also heard that she is now head of the Hyuuga clan. Is that true?"

"Yes. Why do you care so much?"

"Is she strict about what you do?"

The question took Hanabi by surprise. "No, not really, why? Wait a second, you can't just answer a question with a question. Tell me, why do you care?"

"You'll see soon enough." And with that, Auzzie disappeared into Ichiraku.


	3. Chapter 3

The sky was just beginning to turn red as the sun started its slow descent.

Ghost stared into his bowl of ramen, unusually silent. Rayna looked over at him. "Is something wrong?"

"No. I'm just thinking," he replied, his gaze never leaving his dinner.

"That's something new," Auzzie commented.

Ghost didn't respond and Auzzie looked searchingly at him for a long while. "Something's bothering you. You should tell us what it is."

"Look, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Although neither one was satisfied with his answer, Rayna and Auzzie decided not to push it. 'Although,' thought Rayna, 'I can probably get him to tell me later.' "Rayna."

"Yes?"

"Will you please pay this man, so I may leave?" Ghost asked.

"But you barely ate anything," she protested, sounding slightly worried.

"Oh well. I need some time."

"Okay," Rayna paid for Ghost's ramen and he left Ichiraku.

"Shouldn't we go with him?" Auzzie asked, once he was gone.

"Probably. But sometimes he just needs some space. He'll find us later." Rayna said, as she stared after him thoughtfully.

"Alrighty," Auzzie said as he turned back to his food.

Ghost was calmly picking his way through the village of Konoha, his forehead protector getting strange looks from the people. He was stopped at one point by a group chuunin and asked quite calmly why he was here.

"I'm here to take the chuunin exam. Here are my papers," he said, producing the forms from his pocket.

They had accepted them, handed them back and wished both him and his team good luck. Ghost continued walking through the town and then into the training grounds. He had seen a pole sticking out above the trees earlier and was looking for it. After a good twenty minutes of searching, he finally found the base of the pole and at the bottom was a big diamond-shaped stone, with several names etched into it. He stood there for about half an hour reading them. Then, he noticed a presence behind him. He turned around and saw a girl with white eyes and blue hair and his first thought was that it was Hanabi, but this person was dressed differently. Instead of a light blue shirt and shorts, this girl was wearing a dark blue kimono with a light blue obi (belt thingy). He was about to say "Who the hell are you?" when he realized that this was a Hyuuga, and Hyuugas could beat the crap out of him without even trying. So he tried a more formal approach.

"Hello, Hyuuga-sama," he said, bowing. Without rising, he added, "My name is Chikara Ghost. Is there something you need?"

"Please, do not bow. I truly am not a superior person," she said in a gentle voice. "I am Hyuuga Hinata. Where are you from?"

Straightening, Ghost replied, "I am from the Hidden Spectre Village. My team and I have come to participate in the chuunin exams."

"My sister is going to participate in that this time. She is quite gifted, even more so than myself. She fights almost as well as her uncle Neji did," she said, her voice saddening slightly.

"You say she fights as well as her uncle once did. Does this mean her uncle has died?"

"Hai. His name is carved into the stone behind you. That stone contains the names of the many shinobi who have died so that their mission could be completed. He left four years ago with a few others in an attempt to bring back another shinobi of this village. Apparently, they all died on that mission. This was four years ago."

Ghost was silent for a while before he spoke. "A memorial to your fallen heroes. Interesting. Well, Hinata, it was nice meeting you. Before I leave and return to my comrades, I have one more question I would like to ask you."

"What is it?"

"I ask on behalf of my friend and teammate, Marganos Auzzie, that your sister, Hanabi, be allowed to see him."

Hinata blinked twice. "Excuse me?"

"In our brief meeting with her and her team today, I believe Auzzie found her, how to say this, attractive. Although, to be honest, he lacks the balls to do anything about it. So as his friend, I am asking permission for him to see your younger sister." 'There,' he thought, 'that should do it.'

"It is not my decision what my sister does or who she sees," Hinata replied.

"Thank you, Hinata-sama. Now, I must return to my teammates. Good night," Ghost said as he left.

Hinata continued looking at the monument after Ghost had left. Her gaze kept traveling back to one name. The one that never left her thoughts before the mission and still wasn't gone. _Uzumaki Naruto_. After another fifteen minutes, she decided it was time to head home and chew her sister out for skipping training that day.

Ghost walked back to the Ichiraku in silence. He arrived only to find Rayna and Auzzie not there. He asked the ramen man where they went, and he pointed Ghost to the "Konoha Hotel for Fiery Young People in the Springtime of their Youth". Guess who named that place…. Anyways, Ghost took a leisurely walk to the hotel, and Auzzie and Rayna had already checked in. The desk clerk gave him a key to room 3. He walked in and found a strange scene in front of him; at the moment, Auzzie seemed to be on top of Rayna. Ghost, deciding he didn't really want to know in the first place, turned around and left. Ten seconds later, the door opened again and Ghost walked in to find the two sitting in the room talking to each other. Deciding he liked this a bit better, Ghost remained in the room. He told the two about his conversation with Hinata, and made sure to point out the part about Hinata not caring what Hanabi did and the fact that she was open for the taking. Auzzie just grinned.

* * *

Hinata arrived home and went in search of her younger sister. Well, she more of activated her Byakugan and found out where she was (do you think the Hyuugas have ever lost at hide and go seek? I mean, they seem to have this unfair advantage in the ability to see through things.). She found her sister in her room, reading, so she walked over and knocked on the door. Hanabi opened it. "Can I help you?" 

"You skipped training today."

"I didn't skip. Sakura-sensei let us out early so we went around Konoha for a bit."

"You also met a group of shinobi from a different village, did you not?"

"Yeah, so what? It's not like I'm not allowed to make new friends," Hanabi replied.

"I realize that. Did Antonio try to fight one of them like he usually does with new people?"

"Yes. She saw through his Bringer of Darkness technique and laid him out in one shot. It was pretty impressive."

Sighing, Hinata said, "He really needs to be more careful. He's going to get himself killed one day. So tell me about this Auzzie guy. Do you think he's cute?"

Hinata smiled mischievously as Hanabi groaned. Their laughter lasted well through the night.

* * *

The early morning sun rose over the bridge that Team 7 had met at so many times before. Sakura was sitting on top of the gate that Kakashi would always appear on in a puff of smoke with some lame excuse for being late (a/n: the best excuse was the one about how he got lost on the road life). She watched as her team began arriving one by one. When they all had arrived, she dropped down and walked over to them. 

"So I heard you guys met a group of ninjas from another village," she said, looking right at Antonio, who had a rather large bruise on his cheek.

"Yes, we did. Antonio also got beaten by one of them," Akira said calmly.

"Hey! I could have won that fight if I had a little longer!" Antonio yelled.

"Antonio, her teammate kept her from beating you senseless by trapping her feet in solid ice. That was not a fight you could have won," Hanabi said.

"But still-"

"Antonio, you of all people should know better than to fight a person just because of how they look," Sakura said.

"Bah, you guys are all against me," he said.

"No, we're just trying not to get you killed. But anyways, it's time to get to the reason why I called you all here this morning. As you know, the chuunin selection exams are coming up. Each village will select its strongest and most promising groups of gennins to take the test, and hopefully be promoted up a rank, to chuunin. I have decided that the three of you are ready for the exam, however this test is no joke. It will be hard on you both mentally and physically. I almost lost both of my teammates during the second part of that exam, and they were two of the strongest of the new gennins from Konoha. Although sadly, neither one made it to chuunin level. One of them died four years ago, and the other is still a missing-nin bent on revenge. Here are your applications; fill these out and report to room 315 of the academy in one week at 4:30 pm. That is all. You may have unsupervised training today if you wish, or you may take the day off. However, I strongly suggest that the three of you train. Antonio, you especially. Your genjutsu needs work if somebody could break through it that easily. If you need me, I'll be at the old training ground."

And with that, Sakura left.

"We should go train," Akira stated.

"But come on, we have a day off. Let's go do something else," Hanabi said, all for ditching another day of training.

"If you want to do that, go right ahead. I'm working." Akira stated as he walked towards one of the training grounds.

"Right, well, I'm not working. You feel like ditching today with me?" Hanabi asked Antonio.

"Of course."

* * *

Akira stood at the top of a tree. He looked around at the multitude of them growing around Konoha. Sighing, he walked back down the trunk with his hands in his pockets. When he reached the large stump about twenty feet from the bottom of the tree, Akira jumped onto it and sat down with his legs crossed. And so, he began sorting his thoughts regarding the chuunin exam. He remembered watching the final matches so many years ago, right before the Sound and Sand attacked Konoha. He went over the fight between Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, and the one between Gaara of the Sand and Uchiha Sasuke. And to think that now Naruto and Neji were dead, while Sasuke had become a missing-nin. Akira remembered what Sakura had said about her those two almost dying in the second part of the exam. Akira knew he would need to work a lot harder to become a chuunin, to even make it to the third round, to be seen by so many, to show his full strength. To be able to show off in front of her. Yes, he decided, he would have to work for that. But hard work had never bothered him before. In fact, he sometimes enjoyed it.

* * *

My current record of reviews per chapter is 4, set by this story and my yu-gi-oh fic. I hope I will be able to beat that one day. 


	4. Chapter 4

Vash14: ok whatever. I'll keep that in mind for future reference.

* * *

Akira had been sitting on the tree stump meditating for the past two hours. He was brought out of his trance by a nearby presence. Without opening his eyes, he spoke. "May I help you?" 

Upon not receiving a response, he opened his eyes and peered into the woods around him. He looked at the trees around him, trying to find the other person. After a while, he sighed and pulled out a kunai in his right hand. He then brought the knife up and cut his shoulder. The genjutsu was dispelled and he found himself looking at his pink-haired sensei. "You should really teach me how to use the dispel jutsu so I won't have so many scars on my shoulder."

Sakura reached over and touched his shoulder. In moments, she had closed the cut and replied, "I probably should. You might actually be able to use it because you will probably be the only one on your team to become a chuunin. As you've probably realized, you are the strongest one of the three of you. Hanabi's loud and thinks that being a Hyuuga will make up for her lack of a work ethic, and Antonio is too hotheaded during a fight to think up a strategy."

Akira looked at his teacher. "Is that all you came to say?"

Sakura smiled. "Never one to beat around the bush, are you? I was wondering what you could remember about the group of gennins you guys met yesterday."

"From what I could tell, the three were pretty strong, even though I only saw one fight and another use a jutsu I didn't recognize. He seemed to have sent a path of ice across the ground and trapped the girl's feet in it."

"So he just created ice out of thin air?"

"So it would seem."

Sakura sighed. "You three are going to be in for a rough time. Especially if any of that group makes it through to the finals. I might as well teach you the dispel jutsu in case you guys need it."

"Thank you, sensei." Akira replied.

The silver-haired genin looked out the window of his hotel room at the village of Konoha. He had sharp brown eyes, always seeming to be full of malice towards whoever held his gaze. He was about 5' 9", and his hair down past his shoulders, seemingly in wild disarray. He wore a lightweight teal jacket with the collar slightly folded down so that it didn't touch his face for his shoulders. He had a simple string necklace that had a golden ring containing a pyramid with an eye inside the pyramid. He wasn't surprised when a figure appeared outside the window, upside down.

"So how are things among you three?" the person asked, not out of care for them, just to see if they had attracted any unnecessary attention to themselves.

"We are fine. As you instructed, we have been very careful not to attract too much attention. So far, we have seen the teams from Konoha as well as Hidden Spectre. The Konoha team should pose no threat to us."

"And the Spectre team?" the figure asked.

"Truthfully, we might have a little bit of difficulty with them. They won't be as easy to take down. The female on their team broke through the Bringer of Darkness genjutsu and was only stopped by what appeared to be a variation of the Water Prison no Jutsu except using ice instead of water," the genin said.

"And the third?"

"I don't know. He did not participate in the fight. After the fight, the Spectre team entered the ramen stand next door and the Konoha team left."

"You and your team have done well Bakura," the man said.

"Thank you sensei. I was wondering, sir, what our plan was for this? I realize that you want to-" Bakura was cut off.

"You don't need to worry about the plan. You just do as you have been instructed and make it to the third round. Outside of that, I don't care what you do. Just don't get in my way," the man outside the window said sharply.

"Yes sensei."

**One week later**

"Are you ready to do this?" Akira asked him teammates.

"Yeah, just don't screw this up," Antonio replied.

"There is no need for you to worry about me screwing this up. You of all people should know that," Akira replied.

"Let's go guys. We can't be late, especially not today," Hanabi said, much quieter than she usually was.

"Right!"

"Let's do this, and do it right. You guys ready?" Ghost asked his teammates.

"Of course," Rayna replied.

"Alrighty then. Lets go," Auzzie said.

"Stick to the plan. We don't need to screw this up. Understood?" Bakura asked his teammates.

"We're ready to do our part," they both replied.

"Good. Let's not disappoint our teacher."

The clock in the academy struck 4 o'clock as 9 teams of gennin and, in some cases, their Jounin teachers accompanying them. They each reached the academy at different times, and all had been admitted into the room for the first test without much of a fight. However, they confiscated Ghost's Tupperware container of ramen before he could enter, and that was kind of ugly. A "Caution! Icy floor" sign was necessary afterwards.

* * *

Well, that's it. Next chapter: the first test. Including some of the most original ways of cheating ever come up with. 


	5. Chapter 5

Yay for long waits. I'm so mean to all of my readers (the few of you). I also realized that the number if gennins in the exam is VERY small, so let's just add a bunch from random villages. I mean, 27 gennins for the whole exam? At most, 12 would make it through the forest of death, and we know that not all 27 will pass the written test thing. So we'll add about 36 more gennins from villages of your choice.

* * *

"I can't believe they took my ramen," Ghost muttered. 

"Will you shut up about your ramen for two minutes?" Rayna replied.

"Fine."

**Two minutes later**

"I can't believe they took my ramen."

"GAH!" Rayna screamed as she stood up and walked to the other side of the room to sit down.

Ghost just smiled to himself. "That wasn't very nice," Auzzie commented, grinning.

"But you have to admit, your sister is quite fun to bug," Ghost replied.

"And you also have to admit, you are one big asshole of a boyfriend."

"True, but only sometimes."

Ghost looked around the room. It was quite full of ninjas, three bearing Konoha forehead protectors, the rest wearing an assortment of sand, grass, mist, rain, rock and then some he didn't recognize. "This exam's going to be a pain," he commented.

"Yeah. These guys don't look like pushovers. Remember what we were told though."

"I know, I know. We won't have to worry about me using them. Hey look, there's your new girlfriend," Ghost said, pointing out Hanabi.

"Burn, Ghost, burn."

Ghost just smiled.

A few minutes later, all talking in the room ceased as the front of the room filled with smoke. As it cleared away, thirteen men were standing in front of them. Twelve wore chuunin vests, but the one in front wore a black trench coat and a headband that covered his entire head. "So you are all here. Good. I am Morino Ibiki. I will be administering the first test of this exam. So, sit down, and I shall explain the rules to you." The gennins sat down, and he continued, "First, I will only say the rules once. You will be given one of these written tests. You have on hour to complete it. There are ten questions, so you start out with ten points. Each question you miss deducts one point. Each time you are caught cheating, you will lose 2 points. These chuunins and myself will decide what is considered cheating, and what isn't. If you lose all ten of your points, you are disqualified, and you fail. Also, if one person on a team fails, so does the rest of his or her team. You have one hour. Good luck."

Ghost took one look at his exam and his eyes did this: O.O, then this O.o, then this o.O. He then proceeded to stare at his test, trying to figure out which one would be easiest. His eyes stopped on question ten. It read: This question will be given to you with fifteen minutes left. Have fun! (a/n: ok, the have fun part not actually written on there. I added it in because it didn't seem like it would fit in the chuunin exam.)

He then looked at question one. It read: Decode this message and then state how it would benefit your team in completing your mission. Rielg ilqre tguygt uybtu reg bher ea iuerg reiuer wligre fjhv eairul guyolrew eraguyb uywe awaleyf rlkjy v.

'I am so screwed,' he thought to himself. The others, however, weren't doing much better.

'What the hell is this?' Auzzie asked himself.

'Umm, seven?' Rayna thought.

'Ok, this sucks. Oh well, let's see if this works,' Akira thought to himself as he performed some seals.

So, after about 30 minutes of staring at his test, Ghost went 'Oh', as he realized something. He then made a coin out of ice and starting flipping it. After about a minute, a shuriken flew through the air and shattered the coin, ending his fun. 'Aww,' Ghost thought, 'Oh well, it served its purpose.' He then began writing answers.

'Heh, your called Ghost, but I'm the one they can't see,' Akira thought as he stood behind Ghost and started memorizing answers.

'Byakugan.' Hanabi thought, scanning the room for people with the answers.

And Auzzie's method for gathering info: 'God, I am so SCREWED!' he thought to himself.

About a second after thinking this, a kunai flew right by him and cut the pencil that the person next to him was holding. "Number 38, you have been caught cheating five times. You and your team are disqualified."

Instead of taking the chance to look at Number 38's paper like he should have, Auzzie just thought, 'I hope he wasn't cheating off of me.'

And so, nobody else had sharp pointy objects fly through the air at them for the next fifteen minutes. It was then that Ibiki stepped up from his position against the wall. "As most of you have probably read, question 10 will be given to you with fifteen minutes left. Now is that time. There are a few special rules for this question. First, you have the option of taking this question. Second, if you get the question right, you and the rest of you team will be sent into the next exam with none of the supplies you have with you now. And finally, if you answer the question wrong, you and your team may not take the chuunin exam again. Ever. You will remain a gennin for the rest of your life. Now choose. Do you leave or do you continue on without your supplies? You have two minutes to decide. I will be waiting."

At first nobody did anything. Then somebody stood up in the back "I can't do this. I'm sorry guys."

Everyobdy in the room turned and looked at the speaker, and it was

* * *

Heh heh heh. I'm so evil. Have fun! 


	6. Chapter 6

Hey look i updated...

* * *

_And the guy that stood up was _nobody special. Honestly. If you thought i was going to have someone important leave, you were wrong. Back to the story.

And so Nobody Special and his team stood up and left the room. Ibiki looked out at the remaining gennin. 'Well, this did better than it usually does,' he thought to himself as he watched another gennin team leave the room. Out loud, he said, "Is this everyone who wishes to continue on with the exam?" pause "Ok then, good. You have made your second instructor's job a lot easier. Everyone in here. You pass the first exam."

"SAY WHAT?" Auzzie yelled as he stood up. Simultaneously, Ghost and Rayna's heads hit their desks.

Ibiki looked at Auzzie for a second before continuing, "In some missions you will carry out, the loss of your supplies may occur, either through use of them or theft. Although, if someone steals from a chuunin, you probably shouldn't be one. However, this loss should will make you completely rethink your strategy for the mission, meaning you must be able to think on your feet, as you will not be able to return to Konoha to replenish your lost supplies. Therefore, you must do things such as rely on your stealth and multiple jutsus to complete your mission. Also if-" Ibiki was cut off quite suddenly by a large black thing flying through the window. All of the gennin hit the ground except 4, who pulled out pointy objects or started the seals for jutsus. Ghost stopped his jutsu and looked at the gray-haired male from Hidden Demon whom was now putting his shuriken away, to the now-visible Akira standing by the window about to launch three kunai into the black object, and his gaze ended upon Auzzie, still standing there with the same expression on his face from when Ibiki told them that they had all passed.

"Well Ibiki, it seems you have an alert group this time. I don't think i've had 4 gennin react like that to this entrance before," a woman with purple hair said to the now concealed Ibiki.

"I really wish you would let me finish my sentences before you do that Anko."

"Where's the fun in that? Hey, aren't you going to introduce me?"

Ibiki sighed. "Gennin, this is Mitorashi (i think, correct me if i'm wrong) Anko. The insturctor for youe next exam she will-"

"Yeah yeah, that's enough Ibiki. Anyways, all of you have now agreed to forfeit your supplies for the next exam, you can leave your kunai pouches and shuriken holsters up here on the desk. After doing so, you will be transported as a group to your nest test site. Going as a group ensures that none of you stop to pick up anything along the way. Questions? No? Good."

Ghost sighed as he joined the group of gennin approaching the desk. Before reaching it, however, he used chakra to stick 3 shuriken and 2 kunai to the inside of his clothes. He then waited until he reached the desk to put his supplies down and wait with everyone else. While the others were dropping off their gear,Ghost went in search of the gray haired gennin from before. It wasn't very long before he found him, standing slightly away from the others. He walked up to him and introduced himself courteously.

"Hi I'm Ghost. Who are you?"

Ok, so courteously is not the right word. The gennin looked back at him.

"Bakura. Tell me Ghost, what jutsu were you about perform, and why do you have shuriken and kunai in your clothing?"

"Ice Prison and for the same reason you have shuriken and kunai in your hair," Ghost replied, not surprised to see other gennin concealing their weapons.

"Long hair has it's advantages, don't you agree?" Bakura asked.

"Yes, but when it's that long and light gray it can't be too good for stealthy movement or fighting. Where're you from? Your forehead protector has a symbolIhaven't come across before."

"Hidden Demon. And your's has the interlocking diamonds of Hidden Spectre, correct?"

"You are correct. My team and I are from there. The idiot that was standing up at the end of the test was one of my team mates. HE's a complete moron, as you can tell," Ghost went on.

'Just keep on talking Ghost. The more info you give me, the worse off you will be.' Bakura said.

'You must think i'm a complete idiot Bakura. I know what to say and what not to say. But, you will be very surprised when the finals roll around. Very, very surprised,' Ghost thought while he continued to ramble about stuff that had absolutely nothing to do with the exam.

Fifteen minutes and 2 lectures later, Ghost sat with his team outside the Forest of Death. "Look, I realize that talking to the guy from Hidden Demon might be bad, but right now, we must concentrate on the task at hand. What kind of weaponry we got left?" Ghost said.

"3 kunai and a shuriken," Auzzie replied.

"5 shuriken and 2 kunai," Rayna said.

"I got 3 shuriken and 2 kunai. So total, we have 9 shuriken and 7 kunai. And we go into that" Ghost gestured to the forest "place in 1 hour. We are under constant supervision to insure we don't go off somewhere and buy supplies. What do we do?" he asked.

"Sit on our asses and wait," Auzzie replied immediately.

"Sounds like a good plan. Rayna, what do you think?"

"Fine by me." she replied.

"Good. Now, nap time. Wake me up if something important happens." Ghost said as he leaned back on the grass and closed his eyes.

Within seconds he heard, "Oh my god Rayna keep your shirt on!"

In seconds, Ghost had gone from laying down peacefully to sitting up looking around. In reality, Rayna was about 3 feet away looking at her brother like he had grown another head.

"That was for calling me a moron earlier," Auzzie said, laughing.

"That was mean Auzzie. Really really mean."

* * *

Well, chapter done woohoo. 


	7. Chapter 7

What's this? i'ma actually updating? holy shit, it's only been a year and some change since i last did this. i doubt the quality of this chapter has anything to do with the length of time it took to write. enjoy, i might actually be motivated to update more often.

45 minutes later, Anko started calling teams into a booth-like place with curatins hanging down so that the people outside couldn't see what was happening inside. "Chikara Ghost, Marganos Rayna and Marganos Auzzie, please come inside," Anko called out from the booth.

The three stepped inside and were quickly surprised. The second all three had crossed the threshold, three people in black cloaks dropped down behind them and then re-appeared beside Anko. "Well, you three did well in trying to hide your weapons. But if you remember, you aren't allowed to bring any of your supplies in. However, you do get to pick from these what you want," Anko said, gesturing at a table behind her.

The table was filled with all sorts of weapons from nunchaku to hunting knives to staves. "But i thought that-" Ghost started.

"We said you couldn't bring _your_ supplies. We didn't say anything about not using _our_ supplies. So, you can pick your weapons from here, and then you are handed a scroll. It will be either a Scroll of Fire, or a Scroll of Water. Your objective is to obtain the other type of scroll from another genning team, and then make it to the tower in the middle of the forest. How you obtain the scroll is entirely up to you, and you may have as many scrolls as you desire. However, having 3 Scrolls of Fire and no Scrolls of Water will not get you into the tower. So, choose your weapons, and don't forget to stay alive."

"You know, I'm not sure how she can say 'don't forget to stay alive' cheerfully," Auzzie muttered to Ghost.

"Yeah, me either. Let's get our stuff then," Ghost said.

Along with the usual kunai and shuriken, Ghost grabbed a pair of hunting daggers, Auzzie took a bo staff from the table and Rayna didn't take anything extra.

"Who will be in charge of your scroll?" Anko asked.

"Seeing as I'm the only one responsible enough to hold on to anything-" Rayna began.

"Hey!" Ghost exclaimed.

"-I'll be taking the scroll," she finished.

"Alright, your group shall receive a scroll of water, you are not to open the scroll until you have one of each and are in the tower. Bad things happen to those that break this rule. Protect it as much as you wish to. Good luck in your survival," Anko told them.

"Sure thing," replied Ghost as they turned to leave.

Once the team was out of sight, Anko looked at the ANBU members in the room with her. "What do you guys think, they look any good?" Anko asked.

"They'll be fun to watch. Not the strongest looking group I've ever seen, but they could surprise us," said one of the ANBU.

"Agreed. Back to your positions."

Anko waited for the ANBU to get back above the door before calling in the next group of Genin.

" Well, I guess things are gonna be a bit more entertaining now," Ghost remarked.

"Yeah, now we're a lot more likely to die than before, especially now that we know everybody's gonna be armed just as well as before. On the other hand, at least we have what we came here with," Auzzie said.

"Agreed. In there. we'll have to play smart and not rush in on everything. there were 3 people that didn't flinch when Anko flew in, them Ghost, Bakura and that leaf guy," Rayna said.

"I didnt flinch!" protested Auzzie.

"You also had no idea what was going on either," replied Ghost.

"Shut it."

"Regardless, we have about 7 more teams until we get to go in. Yall ready for this?" Rayna asked.

"Yep," replied her brother.

"Of course," Ghost said with a grin on his face, "It'll be fun finding a scroll of fire from these guys."

"Ghost, you have a sick sense of fun sometimes," Auzzie said starting to grin.

"Your sister likes it," Ghost commented as he walked off.

"GHOST!" Rayna yelled, face red from both blushing and anger.

"Too much information Ghost. Too much information," Auzzie said.

Ghost chuckled as he continued to walk. "Let's get to our gate. We need to get in there quickly and start picking poeple off before they have a chance to build up a suitable defense."

"Hit'em quick, hit'em hard? I like that idea my friend," Auzzie said as he caught up to Ghost.

"Didn't I just suggest that we take our time?" Rayna asked.

"Yup, you definitely did. But that's not fun, nor will it work very long. Can't carry a shelter around on our backs ya know?" Ghost replied.

"We could always vote on it," Auzzie said, knowing what the outcome of the vote would be.

Rayna sighed. "Whatever, just don't die."

"It's us. What do you have to worry about?" Ghost said as they reached their gate.

"With you guys? I'd say I have to worry about everything," Rayna replied.

"Hush, we should be starting soon anyways," Auzzie said.

About 5 minutes later, the signal to begin was sounded.

"Right guys, this is it. The Forest of Death. The place where we get to put our training to the test and stay alive. No turning back now, let's kick some ass," Ghost said as he rushed in.

"Damn straight, let's do this," Auzzie replied chasing him in.

"Right behind ya," Rayna chimed in as she took off behind her brother.


End file.
